The story basically involves a group of individuals trapped
in a building that has an occult past, where they must band together in order
to survive. For a low budget or microbudget production, the subplot involving
the historical events that occurred in the building are thoroughly fleshed out.
The main baddie religious leader Elias Solomon is an interesting character, one
that I could envision being revisited. There is a great deal of in-jokes, dialogue,
and fun horror movie references peppered in that are related to the guest
appearances. Most horror fans should be able to spot them and be pleased. Some
of the dialogue seemed unnecessary or overdone at times and several scenes may
have been more effective by simply using the characters reactions to the
events.
As with most low budget pictures, the acting is a mixed bag
of performances that range from being fun, to average, and then great. What
makes this production so much exciting is all of the wonderful guest
appearances from various horror and exploitation cinema icons. There is Ari
Lehman (the first Jason Voorhees), George Hardy (Trolls 2), the amusing Allan Kayser (Night of the Creeps), the outrageous grandpa played by Lloyd
Kaufman (Troma!!), and the amazing duo of Howard Maurer and Dyane Thorne (Ilsa and other Nazisploitation flicks). There
is also Lew Temple (The Walking Dead
and so much more) who is simply gold in his portrayal of Elias Solomon. Nicole
Santorella and Michaela Paxton Tarbell both did a respectable job in their
respective roles. Antoine Sheets played the lead protagonist and while he
performed admirably, I enjoyed his character in Dreaming Purple Neon far more than this one.
The directing by Sheets is superb especially considering the
low production budget, smartly being able to make the picture appear to have a
far larger budget than what was available. As with his most recent film, he shows
a great deal of experience and is able to deliver some good close ups, decent
camera placement, and some interesting lighting sequences. The score was
partially composed by the iconic Italian composer Fabio Frizzi, with some
additional music provided by Japanese composer Toshiyuki Hiraoka. It results in
an impressive combination that adds another dimension of suspense and is a
mixture of both classic Italian and the more modern horror music.
The practical effects are what typically drive this type of
movie and they bring it, with enough violence, nudity, gross out gore, spraying
blood, and kill scenes to satiate hardcore horror fans.
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| I'm not always this bubbly |
While personally not as wildly entertaining as Dreaming Purple Neon, Sheets return to
cinema is still a triumphant success. It brings more than enough of what horror
fans crave in order to keep them engaged and craving more.
